Electra Analysis

Literary Devices in Electra

Symbolism, Imagery, Allegory

What was up with that whacky prophetic vision of the Queen's? Let's take a closer look:They say she saw our father beside her again,Restored to life. He then took hold of the staffHe used to carry...

Setting

Sophocles wrote Electra around 410 B.C., but the play is set in an older Greece. Sophocles's audience would have identified the world of Electra as that of mythological figures. If you want to get...

Narrator Point of View

Though all works of literature present the author's point of view, they don't all have a narrator or a narrative voice that ties together and presents the story. This particular piece of literature...

Genre

In one sense, Electra doesn't seem to fit the traditional mold of a tragedy. While tragic events – i.e., the murders of Clytemnestra and Aegisthus – certainly occur, the play does not s...

Tone

Yes, that's right. Some people think Sophocles morally condemns Electra and Orestes' actions, while others think he's not interested in morality. Another possibility is that neither interpretation...

Writing Style

Sophocles's original Greek text was written in meter –while the dialogue was spoken, the choral odes were actually sung on stage. Sophocles used different meters to express different moods. I...

What's Up with the Title?

Electra is the main character of this Greek tragedy. As we discuss in our "In a Nutshell," Sophocles's play treats the same myth that his older contemporary, Aeschylus, treated in his play The Liba...

What's Up with the Ending?

How you want to interpret the ending of Electra goes in line with how you choose to interpret the play as a whole. Is it a moral play, or is it a Homeric story of epic heroes doing epic deeds? If y...

Plot Analysis

The boys are back in town. Or rather, one boy in particular – Orestes. As we find out a bit later, Orestes has been promising to return to Mycenae for ages, and it's only now that he's gotten...

Booker's Seven Basic Plots Analysis

Electra waits for OrestesAs we gather from her conversation with the Chorus, Electra has been waiting for Orestes for some time now. She anticipates both his arrival and the eventual revenge they c...

Three Act Plot Analysis

The three act plot analysis is not a particularly helpful approach to Electra. In this analysis, the first act ends when the hero commits fully to his deed. If you're thinking of the hero as Electr...

Trivia

Sadly, we only have seven existing Sophocles plays out of the speculated 123 that he wrote during his lifetime. (Source)Apparently, Sophocles was considered to be quite handsome. (Source)Sophocles...

Steaminess Rating

There's no time for sex, what with all the vengeance and killing. Though part of Electra's disgust with her mother does have to do with the fact the Queen is sleeping with Agamemnon's co-murderer....

Allusions

Orestes, Electra, Clytemnestra, Aegisthus, Agamemnon, Chrysothemis, Apollo, and Iphigenia – these are characters in the main plot line of Electra, but don't forget that they come from Greek m...